His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomeos slipped out of protocol to take a handful of rose petals from a basket intended to be strewn by children, and launched into a ‘petal fight’ with the little ones. Photo: Alexios Gennaris

AMEN. The great day finally arrived on Friday, October 21 in Camden Street, at All Saints’ Greek Orthodox Church which for the last 75 years stands as the original heartland of Britain’s 300,000-strong Greek Cypriot community.

This year is the centenary of the foundation of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Its celebratory launch took place at All Saints’ by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomeos, who is also the spiritual leader of 220 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide. This, surprisingly, was also first Patriarchal visit to All Saints’. The celebrations culminated with a meeting with King Charles, an old friend.

And what a visit it was. Yellow mini flags with double-headed eagles flapped in the wind. Two banners hung from a pair of imposing Grecian columns welcoming the Patriarch and tugging on their fastenings. A parade of Greek Orthodox clergymen in the courtyard in black cassocks and cylindrical headgear, stood in animated conversation against the brilliant white facade of All Saints’.

The wind picked up, the bells started ringing and a black Bentley pulled up from which the modest figure of a clergyman emerged, slight, beaming, a gold pectoral cross down his chest and who immediately became the focus of attention – Bartholomeos. Heads bowed as he was guided inside the venerable old building.

The courtyard emptied, the bells subsided, the doors swung shut behind him and the mystery was about to begin when His All Holiness slipped out of protocol to take a handful of rose petals from a basket intended to be strewn by children, and launched into a “petal fight” with the little ones.

Then two Byzantine choirs boomed the “Axion Estin” as sweet incense rose. Bartholomeos lit a candle and was robed by attending priests in richly embroidered, gold and silver over-gowns and the omophorion, and finally handed his mitre.

The choice of All Saints’ was initiated by the recently appointed Archbishop of Thyateira Nikitas and it augured well for the archdiocese and its pastoral mission in changing times. Historically, new archbishops weather a period of attunement between their vision and the endurance of the faithful. By this gesture, American-born Nikitas confirmed the Concordia between himself and Britain’s Greek Cypriot community. In his oration, the Patriarch highlighted this happy transition.

But what is so central about All Saints’, or “Agion Pandon” in Greek? The first two Cypriots recorded to disembark in London was in the 1580s seeking refuge and offering knowledge of the East. One can imagine them perhaps bumping into Shakespeare and describing Othello’s island and the war between Venice and the Ottomans for its control.

But All Saints’ was founded just after another war, the Second World War, and it catered for waves of Cypriots. They arrived as migrants from the neglected British colony of Cyprus around Camden’s Fitzrovia Square, Tottenham Court Road, Pratt Street and Queen’s Crescent. Then as voluntary migrants, again as refugees from the island’s struggles in the 1960s and 1970s, as tailors, grocers and restaurateurs whose Cypriot ingredients entered our national British cuisine, doctors, entrepreneurs. Times were challenging.

During the 1964 general election, the racism faced by Cypriots in Camden was an electoral issue. In the clamour of cosmopolitan London, All Saints’ provided support and front-line social services as the community adjusted to its new environment.

In the words of the former and much-loved Archbishop of Thyateira Gregorios who fell asleep in 2019, “in a direct way All Saints’ prepared the hearts and minds of the newcomers to co-operate” with their ecclesiastic authorities, to establish and organise new churches and communities around the country. These included the still resonant Saint Andrew’s in Kentish Town Road, and the small but vibrant Saints Cosmas & Damianos in Gordon House Road – all within walking distance of each-other which reflects the density of Cypriots in the borough until the 2000s. The name All Saints’ was a compromise to include all Cypriot village saints.

Recently, Romanians, Bulgarians, Georgians, even Eritreans and other peoples have been welcomed, finding spiritual peace, especially during the years of anti-European racist discourse generated during the build up to the 2016 referendum on Europe.

Indeed, today, Thyateira has evolved from a diocese largely built by Greek refugees since 1922, to a diocese offering refuge. The very chapel of the archdiocese in Paddington has been offered to Ukrainians fleeing the war until they establish their own place.

Though the Patriarch honoured with his presence other centenary events and of greater ecclesiastic flourish, at grass roots level, none will resonate as deeply as his touchdown at All Saints’. Within its grounds, most British Cypriot families have witnessed key moments in life, marriage, baptisms, schooling, funerals, memorials. This in many respects makes Camden the mother borough of British Cypriots.

• Constantine Buhayer is author of Culture Smart! Cyprus